Arrow Electronics Reviews in Denver, CO Area

Pros

This is tough to come up with. The pay is good as are the benefits, although the benefits contract each year. Denver is a nice place to live.

Cons

The only plan management has to react to market share loss and declining profitability is cut, cut, cut. Lower level management treats employees well, but the CEO is a ranter and raver and that style is rubbing off on the rest of senior management. There is no leadership or long term plan.

Advice to Senior Management

Other than to get a new CEO, I'm not sure what management can do. The longer term outlook for Arrow is not bright. However Arrow could ride the decline down much more effectively by picking a business model - i.e., low cost provider or best customer service - and sticking to it. Helter Skelter is't the answer.

Pros

They have a sabbatical program.

Cons

The management doesn't know what they are doing. They make poor decisions. They don't treat their employees very well. Too many lay offs.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop laying off worker bees and start laying off middle management.

Pros

Pay is very competitive. Management counceling and feebacks are good. People are friendly.

Cons

Management are too arrogant (the A in Arrow)to listen. Even if they agree, they won't tell you that they agree and certainly would not act on it. Motivation to improve is extremely low. Management like to stay in the same process (if there is one) than making changes for the better. Cannot face issues head on and prefer to pat each other's back than providing constructive feedback for the better. The Lean 6 Sigma is really for the the purpose of 'Lean" and not efficiency, best practices. Company culture does not understand project management. PMO does not have any project manager, so forget about management methodology, structure and process. Benefits is below average. HR department is disconnected with the business. Since growth is by acquisitions, all divisions are disconnected and no consistence process and procedures.

Advice to Senior Management

You might be an executive in a 13 billion dollars company. It does not mean you should maintain your arrogance and care more about your ego than what is best for the company.

Pros

If you don't have to work for or near the volatile CEO, it's a pretty low pressure environment, even slow paced - which may not be a good thing.

Cons

Arrow's situation is a bit more complex than some earlier posters have indicated. Arrow's middleman model is under attack from both sides: supplier and end customer. Like all reasonable business people, they're trying to eliminate the cost associated with a middleman distributor. Arrow has reacted a bit more slowly than its competitors, but all are facing declining margins. Having said that, Arrow will be around for quite some time. If you're looking for a dynamic, exciting work environment, it ain't Arrow. But if you're looking for a place to finish out a career, it's probably not too bad.

Advice to Senior Management

Yelling and screaming is not management. About the only place Arrow still adds value is through its people. Trying taking care of them for a change.

Pros

Time/life balance good. Company is honest and ethical at least in my experience. Slightly above average opportunity for internal advancement - especially it seems if you are male. Friendly. Has new CEO who might make a difference.

Cons

Too many chiefs, too few indians. Few promotion opportunities for women especially to higher positions. Pay often below industry standard especially in Colorado. No raises, 2 week mandatory furlough, massive cuts to benefits this year, but then many corporations did that in this recession. But it was excessive at Arrow. Never was any bonuses except for Sales and Executive management. Totally different mentality between Melville, NY headquarters and Colorado. Colorado much better place to work. Melville behind times, inflexible, with a "not my job" attitude. Thinking for your self is not rewarded or encouraged, especially in Melville and it is huring the company. Company still has silo business mentality problem. Components division has no idea what other new, more profitable divisions do. Infighting for sales that really hurts the bottom line. Typical corporate problem of less than effective communication. Fails to provide employees with resources to do the job. Getting a lap top is next to impossible. Does not encourge working from home even a little. OLD STYLE THINKING IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM and keeping people around who are no longer effective at their jobs, are you listening Melville? Moral is bad and has been for a long time. More often than not people get jobs here because of who they know in the upper circle, not how good they might be for the company. Old boy network is strongly intact at Arrow.

Advice to Senior Management

Move everything in Melvile to Denver. Reward employees, not just the executives. Bring back the benefits. Promote more women. Give employees the resources to do their job. Stop playing to the market and stock will rise if you support your employees who will then work harder for you. Improve moral by offering bonuses for meeting goals.

Pros

Above average pay - even after the recent cuts.
Great location for south Denver.
Managers are flexible about work from home, days off, etc.

Cons

Arrow is in a long slow slide to the bottom. If you're close to retirement or just looking for a pay check - it isn't a bad place to work. Management is out of fresh ideas and tends to pull the layoff trigger rather quickly. However, in the short term, most of the cuts have probably been made at this point. I wouldn't recommend Arrow to a young person looking to start a long term career.

Advice to Senior Management

Try something new! The middle man is an endangered species. More and more customers just don't see the value added by Arrow.

Pros

In this unstable economy, having a job is a big plus, period. Salaried and benefits are as good as most Fortune 500's. I would agree with an earlier commentator that lower levels of management are employee oriented and fair.

Cons

Unstable, confused strategy, lack of a clear value proposition, questionable senior management, worsening market position. It seems that every time Arrow takes another hit in the market, management resorts to knee-jerk layoffs. Freezing salaries in this market is probably not unreasonable, but laying off valuable contributers is.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't make cost cutting and layoffs your only strategy. Recognize that the margins of the past aren't coming back.

Pros

A company in transition creates many opportunities.

Cons

Arrow ECS senior management has yet to figure out how to reconcile its divisions/acquisitions. This is a complex problem and Arrow is still looking for the answer. But its competitors fare no better.

Advice to Senior Management

Break the traditional transaction, big company distribution mold. Incentivize risk taking, innovation and entrepreneurship. Reward at all levels and link the reward system to teammanship. Think end-user. Distribution value is no longer a place (warehouse), a transaction (credit). Distribution's value is information: timely, contextualized, interpreted for the reseller. Break the silos, go beyond BI & BA. Reward ideas, communication, action.

Pros

Arrow was a great place to learn the distribution business - a skill you can take elsewhere. I guess you also learn how to survive frequent lay-offs.

Cons

Lay-offs aside, it's just not an exciting/fun company to work for anymore. The market has changed and Arrow can't seem to cope. Arrow just can't seem to find a way to leverage it's long-standing relationships with customers and suppliers. Corporate pounds on us to reduce inventory, customers take their business elsewhere when we don't have the parts, the suppliers constantly pressure margin. It ain't no fun.

Advice to Senior Management

To be honest, I'm not sure. Given the conditions Arrow faces, I'm not sure I could do better.

Pros

Arrow is a good company with plenty of room for advancement. The local managers are generally very open and honest and seem to have an excellent grasp on work-life balance.

Cons

I think the C level executives are terrific, but there seems to be some real issues at the president, vp level. They are constantly shifting strategies and when those new strategies fail, the lower levels take the fall.

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize and compensate your top employees. Don't let your best employees leave for other companies because they're missing opportunities at Arrow. Don't be afraid to let well educated and business savy people speak up. I find that many of the positions at Arrow require a HS diploma plus experience. Many of these positions would be justified in requiring a bachelors degree and as such, you could solicit higher qualified employees for the future.